StockNews.com Upgrades BP (NYSE:BP) to Buy

BP (NYSE:BP) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on BP. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of BP from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $49.90 to $41.50 in a report on Monday, July 15th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on BP in a report on Thursday, July 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised BP to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $43.00 price objective on shares of BP in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Scotiabank downgraded shares of BP from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $42.00 to $36.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.73.

BP Stock Performance

BP opened at $30.18 on Tuesday. BP has a 1-year low of $29.00 and a 1-year high of $40.40. The stock has a market cap of $81.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

BP (NYSE:BP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The oil and gas exploration company reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $47.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $52.05 billion. BP had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 1.36%. BP’s revenue was down 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.15 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BP will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of BP

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BP during the 1st quarter worth $6,682,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC lifted its holdings in BP by 26.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 629,568 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $22,727,000 after buying an additional 132,750 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BP during the second quarter valued at about $2,620,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of BP by 860.7% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 66,464 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock worth $2,086,000 after acquiring an additional 59,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. raised its position in shares of BP by 147.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 43,063 shares of the oil and gas exploration company’s stock valued at $1,555,000 after purchasing an additional 25,690 shares in the last quarter. 11.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About BP

BP p.l.c. provides carbon products and services. The company operates through Gas & Low Carbon Energy, Oil Production & Operations, and Customers & Products segments. It engages in the production of natural gas, and integrated gas and power; trading of gas; operation of onshore and offshore wind power, as well as hydrogen and carbon capture and storage facilities; trading and marketing of renewable and non-renewable power; and production of crude oil.